The Thief in the Market [Open]

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Subject: The Thief in the Market [Open] Thu Dec 22, 2016 8:20 pm

Post #1

From the lush green forests of Konoha, to the beautiful sandy beaches of Kiri, then to the hot endless seas of sand that were Yokuchi: Cheshire and her sister Jinx had traveled to them all. They never stayed in one place for long and they likely never would: a few weeks in one place, a few weeks in another, then onward to a new location. It had been Cheshire’s life for nearly a year and it had kept her out of jail on most occasions: she had been caught once or twice in the beginning but she had always escaped and alluded recapture.

Now, Cheshire and her sister had set themselves up in Hana. They had found an Inn to stay in within the market; Cheshire having paid for the single room her and her younger sister were sharing with the last of the money she had saved from the odd jobs she had done in their previous village. Unfortunately, that had left them with nothing to spare for food and considering Cheshire had yet to find a job – she really didn’t like the idea of going to the mission board for them since it meant her name would be registered in the village – she had resorted to stealing. She didn’t eat much herself but she had to make sure her sister was taken care of: she owed her sister and their parents that much.

This stealing had of course brought some attention to herself, not from the village guard or police but rather the other ‘criminals’ and thieves within the village. She was good at what she did, better likely than any human could try to be, and the fact that she got in and out so easily when it came to stealing had caused several to come inquiring about her skills. There were bands of bandits and thieves who had wanted her skills for themselves: they had promised her gold, jewels, money, so on and so forth, to try and convince her to join them.

She had turned them all down. While most accepted her choice there had been an occasion or two where it had turned violent and she had had to kick one person or another’s ass to prove that they couldn’t force her into it. She just hoped that today wasn’t going to be one of those days.

She was leaning in the opening of a back alley, an apple in her hand which she had just taken a bite out of and was busy chewing. She was dressed in her normal tan colored attire, hiding her feline features as much as possible as to draw less attention to herself. From her left, deeper in the alley way, came a deep male voice, “Hey there, pretty lady. I’ve been looking all over for you. Do you realize just how hard you are to track down?”

Cheshire didn’t even bother looking over – instead she kept her gaze on the village officer whose was being yelled at by the stall owner whose stall she just robbed. She had got away without being seen by either the stall owner or the village police and the stall owner was placing all the blame on the other male for having not noticed what he himself hadn’t. He was ranting and raving and Cheshire couldn’t help but chuckle: she hadn’t taken much, just a few apples, a loaf of bread, and a few other assorted fruits for her and her sister to share. ”If I was easy to track down than I wouldn’t be doing my job very well, would I?”, Cheshire commented, suddenly remembering that the male who had approached her was still waiting for a response.

“I suppose you wouldn’t, no.”, the man commented with a frown. “So, I suppose you’re wondering why I was looking for you in the first place….?”

”Not really… I’m pretty sure I know what you want and the answer is no.”

“But I haven’t even asked yet!”

”You don’t need to. You commented on my skills, tried to sweet talk me by calling me ‘pretty lady’. You either want to fuck or you want me to join your little gang of misfits and criminals so that I can go steal jewels and gold from hardworking folks to line your greedy pockets. Hell, I’ll probably get like… ten percent… if I’m lucky when the spoils have been divided out. Fifteen percent if I sleep with you. Am I close?”

The man opened and closed his mouth several times and Cheshire didn’t give him the chance to respond. Instead, she took another bite of her apple and walked into the market, her tail slipping down and swaying behind her as she walked through the streets – the village police had left and she didn’t care if the stall owner saw her or not since he hadn’t seen her take the goods in the first place. The man scowled and went back into the alley way – he wasn’t a fool enough to follow her down a public street, but he certainly wasn’t done with her yet.

Words: 855

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Subject: Re: The Thief in the Market [Open] Fri Dec 23, 2016 6:13 pm

Post #2

Cheshire was no fool, she knew the guy was following her or at the least keeping tabs on her. Eyes stared at her from various alley ways that she passed by; each person turning to disappear as she passed on. She assumed they were spies for the guy who had just tried to proposition her skills, and had a feeling that since the guy hadn’t taken her verbal no she was going to have to give him a violent one to get him to actually back off.

Another bite was taken out of her apple and chewed as she continued to wind and twist her way down the street, doing her best not to bump into the people coming and going. A few stopped to stare when they felt her fluffy white tail brush up against them, but Cheshire disappeared deeper into the crowd before too many people could get a good look.

As she made her way through the market she began to think more and more that getting into a violent altercation with another group of thugs was probably not a good idea. Her sister and her had been in the village no more than three days, and had paid to stay at the inn for the next few weeks: she didn’t want to see them thrown out and the money end up lost, especially since she didn’t have anymore ryo to rely on for the time being. With this thought running through her mind Cheshire picked up her pace and neared a nearby wall. She jumped onto a barrel, then from there an awning, and finally up onto the roof. She made quick work running to and up a wall, grabbing the ledge, and hoisting herself up onto the next roof. This vantage point gave her a great view of the city around her, including the alley across the way where she was being watched. She stuck her tongue out, a childish move perhaps but one that caused the man to go red in the face with rage, and then ran toward the next building. Cheshire jumped at the last second, launching herself across the gab between the buildings and onto the next one.

“Get up there and get after her!”, she could hear the man grumble due to her advanced hearing. Several of his goons pushed and shoved their way across the busy market street and started to attempt to make their way up to her. One of the three got halfway up before falling painfully onto his back, the other two scramble up a lot sloppier than she had.

”If I were you I’d just walk away now… no good will come of this for you.” Cheshire called back over her shoulder as she took off running around and took a skilled leap over another gap between buildings: putting more and more room between herself and the goons attempting to follow her. Cheshire turned once she landed in a crouch, standing gracefully to see the goons still struggling to reach her. A cheshire like grin spread across her face as she folded her arms across her chest. ”You’re going to break your necks if you keep trying...”

“Shut up, pussy cat! Or we’ll turn you into a new fur coat!” One of the goons after her retorted, right before tripping over his own two feet and falling onto the roof.

Jubei had been looking around the past couple of days. He hadn't been really doing much besides hanging out in the room he'd rented, exercising to stay fresh, and sharpening his weapons. For several hours a day he'd sniff around, seeing if he could find any more traces of those guys that he, Suna, Miyuki and Commander Uno tangled with out in the wild. He hadn't really been a part of that situation, and he didn't fully know what went on, but he just wanted to be sure that more of them wouldn't show up trying their little scheme all over again.

So far he'd come up with nothing, which was a good thing. Jubei was about to call the whole thing off and head back to his room for a nap when highly sensitive ears pick up on a conversation between a male and a female. From what Jubei was able to pick up on, the male was interested in the female because of a set of "skills." She deducted that the male also wanted other "benefits" along with her joining up with them. All of it she was against.

The female walked off, and she began to be followed. Through his sensory, Jubei found that she had many eyes on her. These looked to be the type of people who didn't take no for an answer. Jubei wasn't able to get a close look at the female because of all the people moving back and fourth, and these guys didn't seem like those out in that camp, but he still couldn't just go off and snooze somewhere while a female had this many guys after her. Jubei changed direction and started moving quickly.

A trained eye could see someone with a large circular straw hat wearing a dark colored cloak zig-zagging through the crowd. All of these goons had the same scent, so they were easy to spot in the crowd. Jubei began to drop each one of them with a swipe of his sword, which caused grievous harm to humans. Loud screams and yelps erupted from the crowd, but when people turned to look they only saw one of the goons on the ground bleeding and screaming.

Some of them were up on the rooftops, chasing after the girl who was proving to be much more agile than they were. Jubei made his way up there after running up the wall of a building, jumping and throwing off his cloak. He looked below to see guys tripping and falling on a roof across from the female. When they looked up they would see a young man dressed in a baggy black outfit jumping towards them. He had a bag on his back; a handle of a machete above his right shoulder. A large straw hat and a scarf over his nose and mouth like a mask hid his features.

He drew a large sword at the small of his back, holding it in his right gloved hand upside down in a stabbing position. landing, Jubei made a vicious swipe towards one of the goons, slashing open his abdomen. He screamed loudly and rolled off the roof into the alley below. Another drew a large knife of his own; possibly a shortsword. Jubei began to sword fight with him, the sounds of weapons clashing loud to the ears with sparks erupting from every impact. The goon showed some skill but wasn't on Jubei's level.

Another goon executed a kick at Jubei's head while he was busy with the first. Jubei ducked beneath it, but his hat was kicked from his head, revealing his tan colored cat-like eyes, his light brown hair and his 2 feline ears. "What the -- another cat person?" said the kicking goon, before he himself was kicked in the face and launched from the roof. Jubei continued sword fighting the first goon, eventually disarming him and knocking him onto his backside after several kicks and a punch to his mouth.

With a sword in his face the goon held up his hands. "Alright alright, I give up!" he said. "Take what you want, but don't kill me!"

Another individual, this one much faster and skilled than the others: she could handle the goons easy enough but she didn’t know how she’d fare against someone of that skill level. Cheshire felt a spike of worry mixed with fear shoot up her spine before witnessing what was going on below – this person, whoever they were, weren’t on the side of the goons as she had originally thought. In fact, it looked like he was cutting them down one by one. Eventually this stranger made it up onto the roof and again made quick work with one of his weapons, slicing them down.

Eventually there was only one goon left who had a weapon pointed at him. But it wasn’t the goon she was focused on, it was the stranger himself. His appearance had caught her attention and held it: the feline characteristics, especially his ears. This person had to be from the same clan as her. She had never thought to ever come across anyone else from her clan: she had thought the majority of them killed outside of her sister and herself.

”I dunno.. that sounds like a pretty fair trade considering what you and your friends were going to do to me.”, Cheshire commented as she took a running leap across the gap once more and landed on the roof top that her fellow Neko clan member and the goon were on. ”I can only imagine what you all would have done had you caught up to me.”, she added as she moved closer while keeping at least some distance between herself and the goon. She reached up, pulling her tan hat off of her head as well as her goggles: revealing not only her stark white hair but two feline ears that were tinted with a light pink colored fur on the inside. Her ears twitched and she found herself reaching up and scratching one absently, sticking her tongue out between her lips as she did so from the enjoyment of the feeling.

As if realizing suddenly what she was doing she quit scratching herself and looked toward her fellow clan member. ”Thanks for the help, by the way… I haven’t seen someone move like that since… well, in a long time.” She had almost said since the days she had watched her brothers train but had thought better of it – not because she didn’t want the helpful stranger to know but rather because if the goon was allowed to live she didn’t want to give him anymore information than he already had: she had her sister to protect after all and most scum weren’t above using other people as hostages to get what they want.

Cheshire toyed with her had between her fingers, waiting to see if this stranger was going to end the goons life or not: it really didn’t matter to her either way. So long as this situation didn’t come back to bite her on the ass later on she didn’t care – she just didn’t want the trouble. Besides, she had questions burning she wanted to ask, questions she wouldn’t ask while people were around who could use the information against them.

Jubei didn't feel like taking a life today, only teaching a lesson. Since he'd arrived here, the number of idiots like this one who went after innocent females was a bit overwhelming. Many of them spoke of a kid with red hair and a mask who could fly - Suna - and had opted for not trying anything in fear of him crushing them with his sand, but there were still a brave few.

In response to asking not to be killed, the girl, who'd jumped back over onto the roof they were on, said that taking his goods and possibly ending his life was a fair trade compared to what they were going to do to her. Jubei already had a good idea what they had in store for her if they were to catch her. All hopes of that were gone now. Jubei kicked him, causing him to rise into the air suddenly, then spun and performed another kick which knocked him off the roof. He yelled all the way down, and a crash noise was heard. He'd be injured, but alive.

Jubei looked over at the girl, and had to do a double-take. His feline eyes widened some to see ears similar to his when she took off her hat. So she was a Neko too?... It was a good sight to see, one of his own kind. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh; a content look on his face. So others had survived the disaster that had taken place at his village. It even looked as if she'd be able to take care of herself. Jubei wanted to ask her questions, but decided against it, for most of them he wanted to find out for himself. To know that there was even one other Neko alive was enough for him, but he didn't want to get too close to anyone.

Jubei opened his eyes again, picking up his hat to put it back on along with his cloak. The girl didn't look injured, and no one was after her anymore, so his job here was done. "Excuse me," Jubei said with a nod to the female, then he jumped back down into the busy street below.

The Neko stranger kicked the man hard enough to cause him to lift up in the air and go flying off of the roof: she couldn’t tell from where she was standing when he hit the ground but she was pretty sure that if the fall hadn’t killed him he was definitely severely injured. Either way he wouldn’t be a problem anymore and if she was lucky what had happened here would serve as a warning for anyone else in the future wanting to ‘acquire’ her skill set. The best part of the whole situation of course was the fact that so far no village guard had shown up which meant the chances she was about to be asked to leave the village were slim.

When the Neko stranger finally looked toward her he closed his eyes and let out a sigh: he looked content. Cheshire almost expected him to say something when he opened his eyes again but instead he put his cloak and hat back on jumped back down into the street below. ”Wait! Hold on a second!”, Cheshire called after him loudly. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him!

”Please don’t go! I have some questions!”, she added as she too jumped off of the roof and landed in the streets below: landing in a crouch and standing quickly. She ignored the gasps and stares from the people around her as she kept as much of her focus on the other Neko clan member as she could. She normally didn’t try and be a bother, in fact she normally kept to herself or rather herself and her sister, but she had too many questions and it seemed like she might have found someone who could answer some of them.

”Please! I… just want to know what happened!”. She was desperate. Her and her sister knew nothing of what happened outside of having seen the aftermath. They had guesses, assumptions, but no hard facts. They could guess who was behind it all, who had caused all of the mass death and destruction, but they were just that – assumptions. She wanted the facts, she wanted the truth, even if it would hurt in the end. She had to know though, she had to have that closure: her and her sister deserved that much, didn’t they? Cheshire could only hope that the stranger would stop, that he would give her the information she sought after so hard. She didn’t like being a pest or a bother, but in this situation she was willing to step out of her comfort zone and do just that – at least a little: it wasn’t like she was going to follow him all over the village if he didn’t want to answer her after all.

The female Neko called out to him, asking him to hold on. Jubei assumed that she jumped down after him because of the gasps and moans of surprise behind him. She asked him not to go because she had questions, begging. Apparently she didn't know what happened back home; about the disaster that wiped out everything he'd known.

The small inn where he'd been lying his head since arriving here in Hana wasn't far away. Jubei glanced back at the female as he crossed through the crowd and headed for the front door. He opened the door and went inside, leaving it opened for the female Neko should she continue to follow him. No one was in the small lobby at the moment which was fine with him. There was usually an old lady running the place, but often she was in the back, where she lived.

Jubei took off his bag, cloak and hat, lying them on the small couch in the lobby. He tucked his scarf down below his neck, revealing his face. Assuming the female followed him, he'd glance her way again. She didn't look familiar, and he didn't remember her. Still it was nice to see another member of the clan. Sitting down in one of the chairs by a table near the couch, Jubei unsheathed his sword and took out a napkin to wipe off the blood.

"...The village was attacked by rival humans," he said, carefully wiping down the special steel. "...They attacked because they were scared of the Neko. There's a saying: 'humans - some of them, not all - fear what they don't understand.' They assumed we were a threat, and moved to wipe us out... We did well in fending them off, myself and most of my family included, but the human's numbers were too great... My father, who was a carpenter in the village and responsible for constructing many of the buildings, pushed this sword into my hands and threw me into the river valley. When I woke up... everything was gone. I don't know how many survived, and I don't know if my family is still alive. I've been wandering for the past year looking for them, and other survivors. You're the first i've seen since then..."

Jubei swung the sword expertly around in front of him, being careful not to hit the girl. The swinging ended with him holding the sword in a stabbing position, sheathing it behind his back again with one arm.

Jubei glanced back at her and then walked into the inn: Cheshire didn’t hesitate to follow since he left the door open. Cheshire glanced around as she stepped inside, closing the door behind herself as she did so. The lobby area was empty except for them and as she turned her attention back to her fellow clan member she noticed him pushing his scarf down so that his face showed. She waited patiently, silently, for his response to the question she had called out to him.

Sure enough he gave it to her, and it was just as she and her sister Jinx had feared: the village had been attacked by rival humans. As was normal with most humans they attacked because they were scared: scared of the Neko clan and likely the things they could do. From what the stranger mentioned though they had done well with fending them off however the sheer numbers of the humans had been overwhelming. The stranger here was saved by his own father who pushed a sword into his hands and threw him into the river valley. When he woke up everything was gone: a feeling she was all to familiar with herself having returned home to much the same thing. He didn’t know how many survived or if any of his family had. She was the first Neko clan member he had come across since everything had happened.

”I… I don’t even know what to say. It’s what I feared; what my sister and I both feared. But to know now… to be positive of it.” She paused, contemplating what all she wanted to say. She didn’t know this stranger, even if they were from the same clan, but she felt that she owed him some sort of an explanation considering all that he had just told her. ”My mother was a seamstress, my father owned a stall in the market selling clothing and fabric. There was a special project my mother had been working on that required specific dyes – she preferred making her own, and the supply of berries that the market had needed weren’t ripe enough for her liking. She sent me and my baby sister out to go find some… we came home much much later to everything gone, and everyone dead.” Sadly, Cheshire shook her head before sighing softly. ”I’m sorry if my question brought up bad memories I just had to know… We guessed as much, but to hear it actually happened like that...”

Cheshire was concerned: she didn’t know how she was going to tell her sister about this. Her little sister was happy enough, and Cheshire always did her best to make sure she was taken care of, but her sister had been jumpy and easily scared since that day. To go on and tell her that their assumptions were right, that humans had destroyed nearly all of them… well, she wasn’t sure how her sister was going to handle that – she wasn’t sure how any child would handle it for that matter.

”I’m Cheshire, by the way… My sister Jinx and I are staying temporarily here. We haven’t really found a place to settle for a long period of time. We just go from place to place: I take odd jobs as I can find them….”, she didn’t mention the other things she resorted to doing if she couldn’t – she was sure he’d have a good enough guess considering the kind of people had just gone to battle against.

A distortion appeared nearby. It twisted the space around it, making it resemble folded plastic wrap. The distortion grew larger, and from it appeared a small floating boy. He was no ordinary boy at first glance. He was dressed strangely, wearing a black rubber top that was far too large for him, hiding his arms in the sleeves. He wore a dark colored pair of rubber pants, and was bare foot. Over his face he wore a gas mask that completely hid his identity. Red hair spilled over the tops of the mask.

The strangest thing about this boy had to be that he was hovering above the ground, as if invisible hands were holding him suspended there. "No autographs! No pictures, please!" he said, ever the joker.

Because of all of the fighting and running around he'd been doing, Suna noticeably had put on some muscle. He wasn't looking scrawny like he usually did. "Yo, Jubei! Wazzap my cat man, didja learn any of that Weapons Tech from Boss U--"

It was then that he noticed a girl in the inn lobby with him, but no ordinary girl, a cat girl. "Heyyyyyyyy, you never told me you had a cat lady!" Suna said, flying circles around the girl. "A cute cat lady at that, lookie here! Kitty kitty kitty! Who's she, Jubei? Your sister? Your girlfriend? Huh? Huh?"

Cheshire was her name. She said her mother made clothes, and her father owned a stall in the marketplace. Out on a run to find berries for dyes, she and her sister Jinx returned to see the aftermath of the battle with humans. She apologized for bringing up bad memories, but it didn't bother Jubei much anymore to think back to what happened. He hoped to see his family again someday, but if they were dead, he knew that they were somewhere better than this.

Jubei was about to tell her his name, and tell her than the apology wasn't necessary, but then something strange happened. Through some sort of sorcery Suna appeared, and it was always strange to see him up in the air like that. Jubei had always meant to ask him how he did that, but both times he'd seen him there was always some sort of action and violence going on. He had himself to blame for the first time though...

Suna started to ask him if he'd began to learn about the Weapons Tech that Commander Uno demonstrated back at that camp in the wilderness until he noticed Cheshire. He started flying around her, asking if she was his sister or his girlfriend. A flustered look appeared on his face, and he grabbed Suna before Cheshire became weirded out. "No, it's nothing like that," he said. "She's part of the Neko, the first i've seen since the attack on my village, I told you about that, remember?" Jubei scratched behind his ears. "...She's a guest here. She got into some trouble with some of the scum around here, and I took care of them...."

A distortion in the air began to appear and from it a young individual with the strangest outfit she had ever seen came forth. Such things would have scared her normally, but judging by the way her fellow Neko was reacting this individual wasn’t a threat – or rather, more clearly, was a friend and not a foe. Considering the guy – from the way the voice sounded – was floating and the way he physically looked fit he was definitely a threat. After making a joke the individual asked her fellow Neko clan member about something called Weapons Tech, but cut himself off when he noticed her.

He flew in circles around her, calling her a cute cat lady and asking if she was Jubei’s girlfriend or sister. Before Cheshire could respond though Jubei did; explaining that she was a member of his clan, the first he’d seen since what had happened back home. He explained that she was a guest in the village, and had run into some trouble. Figuring it couldn’t hurt to explain things, especially considering Jubei had involved himself in the situation and helped her out, she spoke, ”Name’s Cheshire. Jubei here helped me out because some guys wouldn’t take no for an answer – apparently they expected me to act as an expert thief or something for them.”

Just then she heard the door open behind her and without glancing back picked up on a familiar scent: her sister. Her sister stood only about three feet high since she was only five years old. She had the same coloration as Cheshire though unlike Cheshire who was dressed like she was raiding tombs or something her little sister was dressed in desert way; a white pair of pants, a very long top, and a yellow shawl looking cloth up over her head – though it did nothing to hide her ears. Jinx looked to Cheshire and then to Jubei and the floating boy. She backed up a step, looking between them and her sister, clearly a bit weary – as she had been since the day they had discovered their dead parents.

Cheshire calmed her sister though by reaching a hand out to her, a gesture Jinx took to mean everything was okay. She stepped forward instantly, taking her sisters offered hand with both of her little ones. ”This is my sister, Jinx.” Jinx smiled, but didn’t speak.

Suna was grabbed. Not that he minded. It wasn't an attack, so the big glowing gourd on his back didn't react. Jubei helped him, Miyuki and Boss Uno out back at camp pervert, so he was starting to consider the cat man a friend. Jubei said the girl, who was named Cheshire, was part of his clan, and the first of his people that he'd seen since the attack on his village. They both said that she'd gotten into a situation with some of the goons around town, probably the same guys he'd encountered when he'd first arrived. They used a pretty girl to try setting him up; maybe they were trying to recruit Cheshire for the same thing.

"Aha, a clan member. That's cool, so some of your people survived, that's awesome man. If you ask me you should stick together. Maybe it was meant for you 2 to meet?..."

Another smaller cat girl came in and Cheshre introduced her as her little sister Jinx. Jinx didn't say anything, so maybe she was shy. It seemed like Hana was becoming more lively, probably because of the actions of himself, Miyuki and Jubei here. Suna hovered himself back airborne.

"Yo. I'm Suna Hari and i'm a super hero," he proclaimed. "You probably heard of me from the morons that hang around; the weird red head kid with the mask and the glowing thing on his back. Well that's me! Maybe I am weird, but those morons are scared of me!" Suna started dancing in mid-air. "Anyways, if ya need anything, lemme know!"

Suna said that it was awesome that another member of his lost clan survived. He also said that they should stick close to each other, and that them meeting meant something. Did it? Jubei couldn't help but to feel a bit of nostalgia when he looked at her, a feeling from long ago lost. But getting close to someone... maybe Suna was going too fast.

"I... don't know about all that, Suna," Jubei responded. "Let's not be too hasty with someone we just met..." Cheshire's little sister Jinx came in next. She smiled but remained silent. Jubei was reminded of his own younger sisters, and wondered even more if they were still alive. Seeing other members of his clan gave him hope.

Suna introduced himself and said that he was a super hero. He said that he knew he was weird, but the goons and scum around the village were scared of him. He was right, even he'd heard the talks of the strange floating kid who killed some people with sand that was alive. It was because of him and also that red headed girl that many took to going and hiding back in their holes.

Suna said that if they needed anything to let him know. "...Thanks, Suna. I'll remember that..."